Upgrade your Dungeons & Dragons game
Want to know what you need to get started with Dungeons & Dragons? Don’t worry, you don’t need to go crazy with spending hundreds of pounds on miniatures, stands, and huge tables. Basic D&D dice, guides, and even virtual tools are all you need to slay your first dragon, as long you have a good Dungeon Master as well – we’ve got recommendations for them, too.
The champions have defeated the orc horde, but what’s this surprise encounter they’ve stumbled upon, and could it be an ancient red dragon? Let’s be honest, you’ll probably find a sudden tray of pizza to be the unsurprising antagonist before any reprise of the swampy orc country could occur. But in case you’re very wrong about that, and fancy playing D&D in the comfort of your own home, here’s everything you need to get started.
Fifth Edition Player’s Handbook
The Fifth Edition Player’s Handbook is the essential sourcebook for creating a character and playing the game, but it’s not the only thing you need, and thankfully, you don’t have to spend a fortune to upgrade your tabletop experience.
Chessex dice sets
Chessex dice sets are perfect for playing D&D and other tabletop roleplaying games, adding a bit of personality to your gaming experience. We recommend a set of a few different colours so you can designate which dice belong to various characters, and separate them in a dice tray to keep them from rolling all over the place. Pick up a stylish and portable dice tray, and mark the sides with masking tape or a dry-erase pen to distinguish where each stat belongs. Roll, and enjoy your random number generator in all its reeking, diabolical glory.
If you’re going for a sheer quantity of dice, nothing beats this 11 pound monstrosity, which comes with 3600 dice, forced to live out their sad, benighted existence in a massive clear plastic bag. Still, it’s convenient if you don’t want to have to roll individual dice every time you need one. This is mostly suitable for gamers who like rolling multiple dice of many different types, but bear it in mind if you prefer more uniform dice sets.
Monster Manual
The Monster Manual is a core rulebook that contains over 100 monsters and enemy stat blocks, making it a great reference for creating exciting encounters in your D&D campaigns. It also contains guidance for a variety of playthrough styles, as well as suggestions for creating your own adventures, as well as a world overview, character creation guide, and spells.
Show this to the pizza guy when he turns up, apologise profusely, and beg him to be your fiercest ally against the ancient red dragon that dares to besiege your table. You can do this by bringing your D&D to life with pre-painted miniatures from WizKids. There are a variety of options with this RPG miniatures company, from stand-alone minis for boss fights, to sets with individual miniatures for different classes of character. They work well as stand-in characters for when you inevitably forget someone’s given them a moonblade or rings of power, or better still, as tokens that you can place on the tabletop to represent hit points, monsters, or just give an indication of where in the modular dungeons you are.
Bring your Dungeons & Dragons game to another level with health ring holders that help you keep track of the status of characters and monsters in your game. Acrylic D&D condition rings come in a wide range of options, including ally, enemy, friend, and foe status, granting easy access to colourful group statuses.
These status condition markers are of particular use for large-scale battles and complex situations. Simply split up your party into different markers depending on where they are in the fight, assign them a colour depending on who they are fighting, and make notes of any status conditions they are under to easily track who is doing what in a battle. It’s even better if you have dry-erase markers to write on the rings.
These D&D starter set battle mats work perfectly with the essentials we’ve listed above, with ready-to-use maps as part of a deluxe package that can be written on with dry-erase markers. That way, you can let your imagination loose to adventure all over these landscapes, then write down your stats and damage as you play to keep track of all the action.
Wizkids terrain sets are great options for those looking to create a modular dungeon (or city) for the many classic D&D adventures that require players to delve deep into
